Tis The Season for Bullies

In a short time, a great number of people will verbally abuse, beat, and kill the people that they live with, date, are married to, or are recently divorced from or separated from.

The most subtle types of abuse are those who “forbid” a partner from talking to visiting with or associating with family or friends. It may come as a surprise to “progressive” women today to find out that there are men and women who control their partners in this fashion. It should come as no surprise given the number of eventual hospitalizations and funerals that occur in which the abuse began as simply forbidding family and friend relationships. Those who are the receiver of the negative treatment know that browbeating a partner and denigrating their abilities on a daily basis is the worst kind of control.

In our society, we have come to accept bullies. It is easier to ignore the schoolyard bully who will become the adult abuser and killer than it is to simply confront the parent of the bully to correct the behavior. As adults letting the bully have their way is just simply an easier solution. Often for monetary reasons, husbands and wives stay with each other because there is no way out that won’t mean economic ruin.

To some degree, we encourage the behavior. We as a society want our men to be men and our women to be women! When they drink too much and fight too much, we can blame it on alcohol and other societal ills. The failure to take individual responsibility for actions gets us to God’s will! If we can blame all bad actions or good ones on a an all-seeing god, then there is no reason why anyone should be responsible for doing wrong.

Children or their dogs or their partners who are beaten are treated as such because that object made them do it. By ignoring the fact that one must be in control of one’s own emotions and behavior America allows its children and old people to die for no reason. Let’s face it, the only thing that one can make is chicken soup. No one controls my emotions when they are out of control; often as it seems, it is my fault for allowing the other person to have control over me.

Yet to a greater extent we as a society want nothing to do with those who deserve to be treated badly. In California, over 40,000 fostercare children exist without permanent homes, because they deserve it. Those self-righteous Christians who oppose abortion will do nothing to take in these children.

The medical issue dejure facing our society is the care of the old. The self-righteous right-to -life Christians will do nothing to take care of these old people because they deserve to die on the streets or in death factories we call nursing homes.

The major health care issue that white people will face is what to do with grandma and grandpa. (Latino parents tend to die at home.) Who will pay these long-term health care coverage. Republicants don’t want to pay it will cut into corporate profits. ($5 billion this year for Blue Cross Blue Shield.) Their goal is to assure the continuance of the Conservative Manifesto adopted by Republic ants in 1938. This assures that the poor are taken care of by charities and that all work even if they are disabled due to injury in the war or just because they are old.

The Republicants oppose Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, real health care for veterans and the Obama health care plan as unnecessary socialist benefits. How can one be pro life and opposed to a free health care system and call oneself a Christian?

So here is the question of the day:

Hey, Speaker-Elect Boehner: What are you going to cut to equalize the $1 trillion giveaway to your business putos that you just passed? Or are you a real hypocrite who only wants to cut spending when it doesn’t affect the Republicants?

I am waiting with bated breath to see what these guys like Speaker-Elect Boehner are going to do with the increased deficit. They have spent $8 trillion with no responsibility for any of these actions they wont get away with it is gods will.

Tell America now what are you going to do to fix this spending problem.

Because we are going to be watching and listening and calling you on your lies.

Steve Ybarra

Steven J. Ybarra JD is a retired civil rights attorney who operates a consultant company in California. He is a member of the California Democratic State Party and is Chair of the Chicano Latino Caucus Voting Rights Committee and a long time political activist.

Posted on December 31, 2010

DISCLAIMER: The opinions expressed here are those of the individual contributor(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the LA Progressive, its publisher, editor or any of its other contributors.

Comments

Stop blaming the Republicans for doing what they do best. How about blaming Democrats for not passing the tax bill long before the election as well as a budget. We appear to be a party that can’t govern because too many people in the party insist upon having everything their own way. You will see the Republicans don’t have that problem. They will pass budgets, tax bills and everything else without any more votes than Democrats had in the House in the last Congress. The only difference will be that Democrats will now be united, but in the minority unable to do anything except hope the Senate kills whatever the House passes. Was it worth such electoral defeat?

What is the inconsistency between opposing Social Security, etc. and calling yourself (and actually being) a Christian? Hitler was strongly supported by the major Christian denominations and the fascists elsewhere in Europe were backed by the Catholic Church. The New Testament was assembled by a committee created by Constantine I to justify his seizure of absolute power, after all. The function of organized religion is to centralize power. What else would you expect?